My First Animal Moves by Darryl Edwards

My thanks to Rachel of Rachel’s Random Resources, for inviting me to take part in the blog tour for My First Animal Moves by Darryl Edwards. It’s my pleasure to share both my review and a very special giveaway with you.

My First Animal Moves

Nathan loves to play, but he loves his video games more.

Can a trip to Animal Moves land convince him there’s more fun outdoors? Best-selling author and speaker Darryl Edwards has created this fun adventure inspired by his passion for encouraging kids to move in an ever-increasing sedentary environment.

MY FIRST ANIMAL MOVES

Discover the joys of animal moves with your little cubs in this first book of movement. Join Nathan and his cute, but sometimes lazy, dog as they crawl, jump and balance their way through the animal kingdom re-enacting moves designed to emphasise fun. It’s all in this exercise for kids book that focuses on family fun boredom busters.

HELPING KIDS MOVE AND GETTING KIDS OFF SCREENS THROUGH FUN ANIMAL PLAY

✓ Do you want to make physical activity for kids fun?

 Are you looking for ways to help your children develop strength, coordination and balance?

✓ Do your children love learning about animals?

 Are you worried about too much TV and screen time?

✓ Do you want to teach young children about the importance of physical activity?

✓ Would you like easy and fun fitness games to include in your day?

My First Animal Moves is your answer. Play along together, keeping everyone healthier and happier, promoting physical, mental and emotional well-being. You’ll all release more mood-enhancing hormones as a result, which help you feel good every day.

It’s written by professional movement coach and award-winning author Darryl Edwards who is best known for his groundbreaking TED Talk “Why working out isn’t working out“, viewed over a million times worldwide. My First Animal Moves distils the ideas in his bestselling Animal Moves book and Animal Moves Fitness Decks into a colourful picture book for children.

A Children’s Book to Encourage Kids and Their Guardians to Move More, Sit Less and Decrease Screen Time.

This unique story takes a different stance to many popular titles in this arena, with a fun activity that encourages children’s active play while aiming to get families moving and reading together. It takes the humour and colour in kids’ yoga books such as Breathe Like a Bear by Kira WilleyYoga Bug by Sarah Jane Hinder, and You Are a Lion by TaeeunYoo to a whole new energy level with active play for the entire family.

Get My First Animal Moves to help your family thrive through movement today.

My Review of My First Animal Moves

Nathan prefers to stay inside playing video games.

At last! I’ve been waiting for a children’s book to arrive that features a child of colour so prominently rather than as a secondary character or as an illustration in the background. Here Nathan is at the forefront and it’s just delightful to see.

My First Animal Moves is a super children’s book. Certainly it tackles the modern issue of children being addicted to screens, but Darryl Edwards does it so effectively. He weaves in activity so cleverly that any child reading this book or having it shared with them will want to emulate the activities meaning that My First Animal Moves encourages a healthy lifestyle without preaching.

I loved the fact that activity comes through reference to a range of animals so that young children can learn about the environment and the animal kingdom whilst becoming more active within their own lives. There’s a lovely touch of humour with Lola too making for a fun read.

Alongside the written content, the illustrations are glorious, showing children the moves they need to make to be like the animals.

Simple in concept but packed with practical content, My First Animal Moves is a simply smashing book for children – and the adults in their lives. I think the book has value not just in the home, but in the full range of educational settings too. It’s great.

Giveaway

Win a Signed Copy of My First Animal Moves plus an Animal Moves Fitness Deck for juniors (UK Only)

(Please note this giveaway is run independently of Linda’s Book Bag)

Please enter using the Rafflecopter link here.  The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then Rachel’s Random Resources reserves the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over.  Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time Rachel’s Random Resources will delete the data.  I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.

About Darryl Edwards

Darryl Edwards is a Movement Coach, author of the best-selling books “Animal Moves” and “My First Animal Moves”, and a thought leader in the area of creativity and innovation in fitness and health.

Darryl developed the Primal Play Method™ to inspire others to make physical activity fun while getting healthier and more robust in the process.

You’ll find Darryl on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter @fitnessexplorer.

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Finn and Fred’s Arctic Adventure by Jocelyn Porter

How wonderful to have a book about the environment that actually supports a place looking after seals. Some of the profits from copies of the children’s book Finn and Fred’s Arctic Adventure will go towards Cornish Seal Sanctuary. I’ve been to the Gweek site on numerous occasions (even losing a gold and diamond bracelet there) so I’m delighted to share my review of Finn and Fred’s Arctic Adventure today. My enormous thanks to Nick Jones at Full Media for sending me a copy in return for an honest review.

Finn and Fred’s Arctic Adventure is available for purchase in all the usual places including directly from Full Media here.

Finn and Fred’s Arctic Adventure

“My bus takes off with a sonic boom, straight through the wall and out of my room…”

Finn and Fred Octopus are off on a magical adventure to the Arctic. They meet a kindly seal, a hungry polar bear and an angry walrus. The whales sing to Finn, and Finn arrives home with an important message to share…

In association with the Cornish Seal Sanctuary, Jocelyn Porter’s latest picture book is beautifully illustrated by the super-gifted artist Leo Brown, who has worked with everyone from Roald Dahl to Disney.

Aimed at children aged 3-8, this action-packed rhyming adventure will gently educate your child about protecting the oceans while entertaining them with terrific sea creatures – from seals and polar bears to narwhals and whales!

My Review of Finn and Fred’s Arctic Adventure

Finn has a magic suitcase under his bed.

As with all the Full Media children’s books I’ve reviewed, Finn and Fred’s Arctic Adventure has such a luxurious appearance with wonderful illustrations by Leo Brown that really bring the story to life. There’s so much to look at on every page that Finn and Fred will provide entertainment far beyond merely reading the story. I think the facial expressions on Finn and the animals are perfect for helping children to learn emotional literacy.

What works so well with Finn and Fred’s Arctic Adventure is the Arctic setting. So many young children will have little idea of the area or the creatures living in it and this story brings them into contact with land and sea creatures like polar bears and narwhals and with natural phenomena like the Northern Lights. I could envisage Finn and Fred’s Arctic Adventure being used in an educational setting every bit as as much as in the home, with all kinds of projects related to geography, nature and the environment linked to the book.

I loved the rhyme scheme as it supports language learning and literacy, as does the inclusion of more challenging vocabulary such as ‘atrocious’ so that reading Finn and Fred’s Arctic Adventure naturally enhances a child’s learning whilst they are enjoying an engaging narrative. It’s always pleasing to see direct speech so effectively used too as this helps model what is expected in children’s writing. I’d love to see Finn and Fred’s Arctic Adventure used for drama or a school play.

There’s peril in Finn and Fred’s Arctic Adventure that helps generate an understanding of how we impact on the natural world. Finn and Fred’s bus accidentally causes damage to the walrus and the pair find themselves under threat from the ravenous polar bear, but it is the lament of the whales that really brings home how children can help protect the seas. I think Finn’s actions at school are a brilliant example and actually empower even the youngest of children to realise they can make a contribution to saving the oceans. That said, the environmental message isn’t sanctimonious, but rather provides small practical ideas that can easily be adopted.

Packed with adventure and excitement that children will love, Finn and Fred’s Arctic Adventure has a powerful environmental message that couldn’t be more needed. I thought Finn and Fred’s Arctic Adventure was excellent.

About Jocelyn Porter

Jocelyn’s writing career began when she was asked to write a story for a preschool magazine. That story was the first of many. Jocelyn became the writer/editor of several preschool magazines and continued in that role for 15 years. Writing one new story every month, plus rhymes and activities was a tough gig, but very exhilarating.

Time is the big difference between writing for a magazine and writing a book.  You see your work on the supermarket shelves within a few weeks of completion. A book takes longer – a lot longer. Jocelyn has to be patient now – not something she’s good at.

Before becoming a writer, Jocelyn work in higher education as International Students Officer. It was a rewarding and interesting job even though she was on call 24/7.

Jocelyn also trained as a counsellor and volunteered at drop-in centers. She never knew who would arrive for counselling and had to be prepared for anything. This work gave her insight into some of the darker corners of life.

Motor sport was one of Jocelyn’s early loves, she had spine tingling thrill of taking part in a 24-hour national rally as navigator – those were the days when rallies were held on public roads!

Jocelyn work as an au pair in Paris in her teens. Having visited the city on a school trip, she fell in love with it, and always wanted to return.

You can find Jocelyn on Facebook.

Silenced by Jennie Ensor

It’s a real pleasure to feature Jennie Ensor on Linda’s Book Bag for the Silenced blog tour. I’d like to thank both Jennie and Rebecca Collins at Hobeck for inviting me to participate. I’m delighted to share my review today.

Previously Jennie stayed in with me here to chat about Not Having It All and provided a brilliant guest post about Blind Side that you’ll find here. I have also reviewed another of Jennie’s books, The Girl in His Eyes here.

Published tomorrow, 7th December 2021, Silenced is available for purchase in all the usual places including directly from Hobeck here.

Silenced

A teenage girl is murdered on her way home from school, stabbed through the heart. Her North London community is shocked, but no-one has the courage to help the police, not even her mother. DI Callum Waverley, in his first job as senior investigating officer, tries to break through the code of silence that shrouds the case.

This is a world where the notorious Skull Crew rules through fear. Everyone knows you keep your mouth shut or you’ll be silenced – permanently.

This is Luke’s world. Reeling from the loss of his mother to cancer, his step-father distant at best, violent at worst, he slides into the Skull Crew’s grip.

This is Jez’s world too. Her alcoholic mother neither knows nor cares that her 16-year-old daughter is being exploited by V, all-powerful leader of the gang.

Luke and Jez form a bond. Can Callum win their trust, or will his own demons sabotage his investigation? And can anyone stop the Skull Crew ensuring all witnesses are silenced?

Silenced is the compelling and gritty new thriller by British author Jennie Ensor. A gripping story of love, fear and betrayal, it’s Romeo and Juliet for our troubled times.

My Review of Silenced

A young girl’s murder has consequences across the community.

What a totally cracking story. I was gripped by Silenced from start to finish because it’s exciting, written with compassion and authority, and brilliantly entertaining too. Silenced has so many layers that it can be read on several levels, giving it a fascinating depth – so much so that I couldn’t stop thinking about it when I wasn’t reading it. The quality of Jennie Ensor’s writing is so smooth and effective that she manages to permeate the reader’s mind, making them look afresh at the world and question their assumptions about others. I think it’s the natural dialogue that helps makes it so impactful as it is as if the reader is eavesdropping the conversations of real people. Add in the first person narratives that feel as if the characters are speaking directly to the reader, and Silenced really is a powerful, potent and important novel.

Firstly Silenced is a convincing police procedural narrative that completely hooks the reader from the beginning. A fast pace for the procedural element is created by timed or dated entries, short engaging chapters and an underlying sense of menace. Several times I found my heart thumping with tension as I read. I thought Callum was a wonderful character and the way in which his past resonates through his present life makes him all the more convincing. As his character is gradually built and revealed, he becomes increasingly vivid and appealing. Through Callum, Jennie Ensor illustrates the impact of crime on those investigating it with stark clarity.

I was mesmerised and horrified in equal measure by the gangland culture element of Silenced. Here I was presented with a world so far removed from my own that it should feel alien, but Jennie Ensor writes with such authority that I found myself plunged into a world of crime that felt all too real and scary. I was terrified of V, Zom et al, because I believed in them completely.

However, the element of the narrative that I found so compelling, so affecting and so thought-provoking was the exploration of society, of morality, of truth, and of how easy it is for youngsters like Luke and Jez to be sucked into a lifestyle they cannot escape. My heart ached for these two young people even when their actions should have made me abhor them. Jennie Ensor presents the real world with empathy, sensitivity and intense psychological insight. Having read Silenced I feel as if I understand the world better.

The themes of memory, truth, family, loyalty, violence, guilt and justice weaving through Silenced are presented with such dexterity that it is impossible to believe this is a work of fiction.

Silenced it a fantastic book. It’s exciting, enthralling, completely believable and an absolute triumph.

About Jennie Ensor

A Londoner with Irish heritage, Jennie Ensor began her writing career as a journalist, obtaining a Masters in Journalism (winning two awards) and covering topics from forced marriage to accidents in the mining industry. She isn’t afraid to tackle controversial issues in her novels, either: Islamic terrorism, Russian gangsters and war crimes in her debut Blind Side (a psychological mystery blended with a love story), domestic abuse and sexual exploitation in her second, The Girl In His Eyes.

Her third novel Not Having It All , a relationship comedy, is an excursion to the brighter side of life. A new edition was published in January 2021.

Ms Ensor’s poetry has appeared in many publications including Poetry Salzburg ReviewInk Sweat and Tears. Her poem Lost Connection placed second in the Breakout Prose category of the Fish Lockdown Prize in 2020.

In her spare time(?) she reads, walks and attempts twice-weekly yoga. She regularly cycles the punishing hills of north London and at the end of the day enjoys collapsing with a bar of chocolate/glass of strong alcohol in front of a TV crime drama.

You can find out more by following Jennie on Twitter @Jennie_Ensor, finding her on Facebook or Instagram and visiting her website.

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Staying in with Daisy Chapman

Now, I don’t watch much television and recently suffered terrible FOMO when Bridgerton was on as I don’t have Netflix and couldn’t see it. When Sophie Morgan told me about Daisy Chapman’s debut book and how it might help fill that gap I felt, I simply had to invite Daisy on to Linda’s Book Bag to stay in with me and tell me more.

Staying in with Daisy Chapman

Welcome to Linda’s Book Bag DaisyThank you for agreeing to stay in with me.

Thank you for having me Linda.

Tell me, which of your books have you brought along to share this evening and why have you chosen it?

I have brought along my debut novel Mary and the Duke which is a Regency romance that I’m excited to share with the world and it is available from the 28th of November.

How exciting to have your debut published. Congratulations Daisy. 

What can we expect from an evening in with Mary and the Duke?

Well to start off with the heroine of my story Mary Barker isn’t like any other young woman from the regency period as she has no interest in balls or finding a husband. She’s a very knowledgeable young woman as her father didn’t stop her from studying. But when it comes to men and the world, she’s completely clueless. Mary has a way of telling it how she sees it and she tends to jump in head first and not think things through which sometimes lands her in trouble. But when she spends more time with the Duke she ends up learning more about herself and the world around her and that there is more to the man than meets the eye.

You have made her sound very modern and appealing Daisy. I have a feeling I’d like to meet Mary!

What else have you brought along and why have you brought it?

I have brought along a copy of Clementi Sonatinas and Sonatas for piano which my character Mary Barker would have certainly had a copy of as she is a truly talented pianist and it would have been her most prized possession and Mary would have most likely have spent most of her days practising the pieces of music at her piano.

Ah, that’s a skill I’d have loved to have.

Thanks so much for staying in with me to chat about Mary and the Duke Daisy. You put on the music and I’ll give readers a few more details.

Mary and the Duke

It’s the height of the regency period, and the season is in full swing…

Miss Mary Barker is one of two daughters in a fine family of seven that remains unmarried; Mrs Barker expects both to marry by the end of the season, but Mary has other ideas. She would much rather remain independent like a man and has no need of a husband.

‘Captain’ Dylan Cravendish, handsome and charming, hears his uncle’s final wishes in Bristol: for him to become Duke Cravendish of Cattleton.

When Duke Cravendish quite literally falls over Miss Mary Barker when attending his first ball in Cattleton, she’s the only one not bowled over by his charms and wastes no time on telling the Duke her opinion of him.

But as the two continue to cross paths in Cattleton and Bath, steadily getting to know each other, can Mary find a way to see past the pirate to the man underneath? Or will she allow his past to ruin their possible future?

Published on 28th November 2021, Mary and the Duke is available for purchase in all the usual places like Waterstones, and Blackwells and including directly from the publisher here.

About Daisy Chapman

Daisy Chapman grew up in the countryside in Lincolnshire but she currently works in the hospitality industry in a hotel in Northampton. During her free time Daisy enjoys baking and watching romantic movies.

A Sin of Omission by Marguerite Poland

My grateful thanks to Grace Pilkington for inviting me to participate in the blog tour for A Sin of Omission by Marguerite Poland. I’m delighted to close the tour with my review of A Sin of Omission today.

Published in the UK by Envelope on 18th November 2021, A Sin of Omission is available for purchase through the links here.

A Sin of Omission

Torn from his parents as a small child in the 1870s, Stephen Mzamane is picked by the Anglican church to train at the Missionary College in Canterbury and then returned to southern Africa’s Cape Colony to be a preacher.

He is a brilliant success, but troubles stalk him: his unresolved relationship with his family and people, the condescension of church leaders towards their own native pastors, and That Woman-seen once in a photograph and never forgotten.

And now he has to find his mother and take her a message that will break her heart.

In this raw and compelling story, Marguerite Poland employs her considerable experience as a writer and specialist in South African languages to recreate the polarised, duplicitous world of Victorian colonialism and its betrayal of the very people it claimed to be enlightening.

My Review of A Sin of Omission

Stephen Mzamane’s life isn’t quite what he’d hoped.

A Sin of Omission is, quite simply, a remarkable book. I’m not sure that I enjoyed reading it, because, despite its historical setting it felt too raw, only too familiar in a world supposedly now more enlightened, and so emotionally charged that it was a book that consumed and affected me as much as it entertained.

Inspired by a real-life person, Marguerite Poland’s depth of research, the beauty and variety of her writing, and her complete understanding of the human condition so sensitively portrayed here is amazing. A Sin of Omission is a feast for the senses and the writing is intense. I found the smatterings of local language added both to the authenticity of the narrative and the sense of place as well as to my feeling of otherness so that I experienced some of Stephen’s emotions with him.

Stephen is a complex character who touches the reader entirely. A man more sinned against than sinning he is not himself blameless so that he feels fully rounded and realistic.

Beautiful, affecting and assiduously researched writing aside, with powerfully depicted characters, A Sin of Omission is so impactful because of the themes Marguerite Poland explores. Our identity, race, sense of belonging and isolation, duty and belief, selfishness and generosity, all layer the textures of the narrative

I found A Sin of Omission a difficult book to read. It caused me to rage at the establishment of the late 1800s, to realise we are not so far advanced now as we might like to believe, and to grieve for a man displaced by his own existence; by his own sins of omission as well as those of others.  A Sin of Omission is a book I won’t forget in a hurry.

About Marguerite Poland

Marguerite Poland (born 1950 in Johannesburg and brought up in the Eastern Cape) is a celebrated South African writer of books for adults and children. She studied Social Anthropology and Xhosa, took a master’s in Zulu literature and folktales, and was awarded a doctorate for her study of the cattle of the Zulus. Two of her books won South Africa’s Percy FitzPatrick Award. The Train to Doringbult was short listed for the CNA Awards. Shades has been a matriculation set text for over ten years. The Keeper received the 2015 Nielsen Booksellers’ Choice Award as the title South African booksellers most enjoyed reading, selling and promoting the previous year. Translated into several languages but still largely unknown in the UK, the author won South Africa’s highest civic award in 2016 for her contribution to the field of indigenous languages, literature and anthropology.

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The Arctic Curry Club by Dani Redd

I’m thrilled to share details of my latest My Weekly review which is of Dani Redd’s The Arctic Curry Club. Although I have a mini-review below, my full review of The Arctic Curry Club is on the My Weekly website here. I also spoke about The Arctic Curry Club online here recently too.

Published by Harper Collins’ imprint Avon, The Arctic Curry Club is available for pre-order through the links here.

The Arctic Curry Club

‘For my whole life I had been looking for home. But why would that be in a place that I’d left? Perhaps I had to keep moving forward in order to find it…’

Soon after upending her life to accompany her boyfriend Ryan to the Arctic, Maya realises it’s not all Northern Lights and husky sleigh rides. Instead, she’s facing sub-zero temperatures, 24-hour darkness, crippling anxiety – and a distant boyfriend as a result.

In her loneliest moment, Maya opens her late mother’s recipe book and cooks Indian food for the first time. Through this, her confidence unexpectedly grows – she makes friends, secures a job as a chef, and life in the Arctic no longer freezes her with fear.

But there’s a cost: the aromatic cuisine rekindles memories of her enigmatic mother and her childhood in Bangalore. Can Maya face the past and forge a future for herself in this new town? After all, there’s now high demand for a Curry Club in the Arctic, and just one person with the know-how to run it…

A tender and uplifting story about family, community, and finding where you truly belong – guaranteed to warm your heart despite the icy setting!

My Review of The Arctic Curry Club

My full review of The Arctic Curry Club can be found on the My Weekly website here.

However, here I can say that The Arctic Curry Club took me by surprise. I was expecting a fairly standard, light, but enjoyable read and found far more interest and depth than I had anticipated. Dani Redd blends entertainment and weightier themes with real skill so that The Arctic Curry Club is a pleasure to read. Don’t miss this one!

Do visit My Weekly to read my full review here.

About Dani Redd

Dani Redd is the debut author of The Arctic Curry Club, which was longlisted for the Lucy Cavendish Prize. She has an MA and PhD in Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia. This involved research trips to some of Europe’s remoter islands, including Spitsbergen, in the Arctic Circle. After this, she spent two years living in India. She now lives in Norwich with her husband, and is working as a food editor while writing that tricky second novel.

You can follow Dani on Twitter @dani_redd and find her on Instagram.

B: A Year in Plague and Pencils by Edward Carey

With Edward Carey’s Little still calling to me from my TBR pile, I was determined to read his latest book, B: A Year in Plague and Pencils immediately it arrived. My enormous thanks to Katrina Power and FMcM Associates for sending me a copy of B: A Year in Plague and Pencils by Edward Carey in return for an honest review. I’m delighted to share that review today.

B: A Year in Plague and Pencils was published by Gallic Books on 4th November 2021 and is available to purchase here.

B: A Year in Plague and Pencils

‘I blame the pencil. I hadn’t meant to do it. I wasn’t thinking. It just happened that way.’

In March 2020, as lockdowns were imposed around the world, author and illustrator Edward Carey published a sketch on social media, with a plan to keep posting a drawing a day from his family home in Austin, Texas, until life returned to normal. One hundred and fifty pencil stubs later, he was still drawing.

Carey’s hand moved with world events, chronicling pandemic and politics. It reached into the past, taking inspiration from history, and escaped grim reality through flights of vivid imagination and studies of the natural world. The drawings became a way of charting time, of moving forward, and maintaining connection at a time of isolation.

This remarkable collection of words and drawings from the acclaimed author of Little and The Swallowed Man charts a tumultuous year in pencil, finding beauty amid the horror of extraordinary times.

Featuring an Introduction by Max Porter.

My Review of B: A Year in Plague and Pencils

A series of illustrations completed during the Covid pandemic.

Before I begin my review proper, I’d just like to comment on the lovely physical quality of B: A Year in Plague and Pencils as it is the perfect size for holding in the hand and the hardbacked version I have is so robust and elegant that it would make a superb gift.

I confess I hadn’t even got to the foreword by Max Porter before I was captivated by B: A Year in Plague and Pencils. The dedication in the front and the Shakespearean quotation at the beginning felt so apt and so attuned to what we’ve all been experiencing that I felt an instant emotional connection. Add in the superb eloquence of Max Porter in introducing Edward Carey’s work and B: A Year in Plague and Pencils feels less like a book of illustrations and more like the recreation of human connection. I loved it.

Edward Carey’s commentary on his drawings is wonderful. He manages to articulate exactly how so many of us have felt in recent times, whilst providing us with the escapism he knows we have all missed. His own sense of displacement, marooned in Texas but yearning for the UK, feels utterly identifiable making B: A Year in Plague and Pencils a microcosm of the pandemic world. However, at the same time, the book affords the reader the opportunity to meet new people, recall forgotten memories and to travel through time and space vicariously. Edward Carey’s illustrations led me to research the unfamiliar, so that the book has an existence beyond its pages that adds value to the reading. And, indeed there is reading as well as the visual delights to be found in B: A Year in Plague and Pencils so that I finished the book feeling as if I’d been introduced to a new friend and that I had been given a privileged insight into Edward Carey’s personal life.

There’s incredible variety in the illustrations from my favourite poet John Donne to a tardigrade so that absolutely anyone of any age picking up B: A Year in Plague and Pencils will find a connection, a relevance and something they can relate to. The progression (or should that be decline) of ‘A determined young man’ throughout the book is so good. But then so are all the illustrations covering categories from art to nature, literature to history, making this boom an absolute joy. It’s fascinating, sometimes disturbing, but always totally absorbing and entertaining. As someone who has no artistic talent whatsoever, I found myself in awe of the way Edward Carey depicted everything from the instantly recognisable hair of Albert Einstein to the scales on a pangolin.

B: A Year in Plague and Pencils is a book that immortalises perhaps the most challenging year in modern history, but it does so with humanity, respect and an intensity of emotion in the illustrations that have given me limitless respect for Edward Carey. I loved B: A Year in Plague and Pencils.

About Edward Carey

Edward Carey was born in Norfolk, England. He is a novelist, visual artist, playwright and director. He is the author of four novels, including Little, which was a Times and Sunday Times book of the year, and the YA series The Iremonger Trilogy. His collection of lockdown drawings, B: A Year in Plagues and Pencils, was published in November 2021.

Edward lives in the United States and teaches at the University of Texas at Austin.

For more information visit Edward’s website or follow him on Facebook, Twitter @EdwardCarey70 and Instagram.